UCLA in the News lists selected mentions of UCLA in the world’s news media. Some articles may require registration or a subscription. See more UCLA in the News.
Uncovering the causes of war | New York Times
If wars are “the least rational of human projects,” why have there been so many of them all over the world, in every era? This is the question that the sociologist Michael Mann poses in the boldly titled “On Wars” … Mann, the author of the four-volume “The Sources of Social Power,” disputes the idea that humans are genetically programmed to make war. “Organized war became ubiquitous,” he contends, only when “fixed agrarian settlements generated states and social classes.”
Corporations and the global minimum tax | Washington Post
(Commentary co-written by UCLA’s Kimberly Clausing) Republican lawmakers have favored corporate tax cuts for a long time, and that certainly hasn’t changed. But that’s not how they are attacking their latest tax-policy bête noire — the global minimum tax. In recent months, members of the GOP have launched a vigorous rearguard battle against the groundbreaking international agreement, which is designed to keep large, profitable multinationals from escaping taxation.
Chancellor Block to step down next summer | Spectrum 1 News
UCLA Chancellor Gene Block is stepping down after 17 years. His tenure as chancellor of the nation’s top-ranked public university will end July 2024. Block led UCLA through a financial crisis and the COVID pandemic, expanding enrollment, diversity and research finding. (Also: LAist 89.3-FM.)
‘Barbie’ disproves a stubborn Hollywood myth | New York Times
“Women-centered movies have been undervalued, in large part because studios have so few women in senior leadership roles,” said Ana-Christina Ramón, an author of studies about Hollywood hiring that are published annually by the University of California, Los Angeles. “The men in those positions are often reliant on past experience and stereotypes — Oh, that didn’t work before so let’s not risk it again.”
‘Eco-Barbie’ a hoax, but doll’s pollution isn’t | Los Angeles Times
“I think it’s very original, because [environmental activism] is usually much more critical,” said Maggie Delmas, a professor of management at UCLA’s Institute of the Environment and Sustainability. “But people are going to say, ‘Well, why shouldn’t that be real?’ It’s showing what could be done rather than just saying, what you’re doing is bad. I think it’s just brilliant. Mattel can only respond that they are inspired by it, at this point.”
‘Barbie’ makes $1 billion around globe | CNN
According to experts, franchise films like “Transformers,” “Fast and Furious,” and Marvel’s superhero movies tend to perform well with Chinese audiences. While “Barbie” is similar to “Transformers” in that it’s based on an existing toy, it’s “not an IP that generations of Chinese have grown up with, so you lack the intergenerational appeal that a film like ‘Barbie’ has in the United States,” said Michael Berry, director of UCLA’s Center for Chinese Studies.
Why working from the office is so hard | Wall Street Journal
Some workers have lost the muscle memory in their minds required to get jobs done in an open-office setting and, like flabby biceps, that muscle has to be exercised to strengthen, says S. Thomas Carmichael, professor and chair of the neurology department at UCLA’s David Geffen School of Medicine.
Suspected killer of gay man charged with hate crime | NBC News
Since June 2022, there has been an average of 39 anti-LGBTQ protests nationwide each month, according to a recent report by the Crowd Counting Consortium … In particular, the demonstrations have made headlines in recent months for occurring in New York City, which has the largest population of LGBTQ people in the nation, according to the Williams Institute, a think tank at UCLA Law.
School policy to ‘out’ trans kids | Los Angeles Times
The Williams Institute, a UCLA Law School think tank, estimated in June 2022 that 1.5 million people 13 or older identify as transgender. The institute also said that nearly one in five are between the ages of 13 and 17. In another study, the think tank wrote that transgender people “are over four times more likely than cisgender people to experience violent victimization, including rape, sexual assault, and aggravated or simple assault.”
How stress affects blood pressure | Las Vegas Review-Journal
Cardiologist Dr. Ernst von Schwarz, a clinical professor of medicine at UCLA, explains that when the body is under stress (again, either physical or mental), it causes a surge of hormones to be released in the body. This causes the heart to beat faster and blood vessels to narrow, which is what raises blood pressure.
Backpack safety for children | KCAL-TV
“It is a growing concern, and younger children are having upper back pain. I’m seeing shoulder pain. I’m seeing neck pain … Bigger is not necessarily better,” said Dr. Anu Seshadri (approx. 1:25 mark).
